10 Awesome Modern Wrestlers Who Made Their Name In Japan

10. Karl Anderson

It's so strange, in hindsight, that Karl Anderson skipped NXT en route to the main roster in 2016, given his lacklustre run on the r. It's hard to fathom what the purpose of that was.

Yet, in 2012, the prospect of Karl Anderson starring on the flagship would not have seemed strange at all. At one point the most promising singles act in all of wrestling, Anderson roared away from the tag ranks with serious momentum. We're writing here about a man that, in the New Japan Cup, was so motivated and on such a creative high that he devised a better kick spot than his opponent. That opponent was Shinsuke f*cking Nakamura on Best In The World form.

Avoiding the Boma Ye with a forward roll, he used the momentum to absolutely clatter Nakamura in the side of the face with a spinning flying heel kick. He didn't need a thigh slap to make noise; a deeply impressed crowd did that for him.

Anderson entered several such eye-catching performances throughout that year, the evidence of which condemns WWE's main roster as neglectful without even watching an episode of NXT - a show to which Karl Anderson should switch as a singles act to mine that unreal potential.